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usually have a gender associated with them, usually called GÉNERO or GÉNERO GRAMATICAL. All nouns fall into three gender categories: masculine, feminine or invariant nouns. As a general rule, we recognize the gender of a “Sustantivo” by looking at its ending. Masculine words usually end in the vowels E or O like PADRE and MAESTRO, whereas feminine words end with the vowel A such as HERMANA and CASA. The picture below shows some examples of common masculine and feminine nouns in Spanish.
The gender of nouns in Spanish.
Recognizing masculine nouns in Spanish: Masculine nouns
Masculine nouns, los sustantivos masculinos, usually end in the letters -N, -O, -R, -S, -R, –L. Some examples masculine nouns are CORAZÓN (heart) and CARRO (heart). Other nouns end in the syllables –MA, -PA and –TA like the word PROBLEMA. However, there are also some feminine nouns that may end in those letters such as: CARCEL (jail) and MAMÁ (mom). There are always exceptions to the rules so in a real context you just need to pay attention to certain clues to determine the gender of a word such as the the or that precedes the word, or even the that accompany it. If you read the sentence “Él es mi papá”, just by looking at the pronoun ÉL in the sentence you can infer we are talking about a masculine noun.
In general you will not see or listen to isolated words in the language so those words that accompany “los sustantivos” will be the key to know their gender, “su género”. Here are some examples of sentences using a few words with masculine gender.
Sentences using masculine nouns Carr o (ends in -o) – El carro rojo es suyo The red car is his Coraz ón (ends in –o -n) – Mi corazón está saludable My heart is healthy Col or (ends in -o -r) – Mi color favorito es el verde Green is my favorite color Plane s (ends in -s) – Tengo planes para hoy I have plans for today Art e (ends in – e) – Amo el arte I love art Pince l (ends in -l) – Este es mi pincel This is my brush Ma pa (ends in -pa) – Un mapa antiguo An old map Proble ma (ends in -ma) – Tenemos un gran problema We have a big problem Plane ta (ends in -ta) – Es un planeta gigante It is a giant planet
Recognizing feminine nouns in Spanish: The feminine nouns
Feminine nouns, los sustantivos femeninos, usually end in the letters -A, -DAD, -TAD, -ED, -SION, -CION, -DEZ, -TIS, -IZ and some end in -E too. Again, these endings are not absolute so you may find some “sustantivos” with a masculine gender ending in those letters. Here are a few examples:
Sentences using feminine nouns Casa (ends in -a) – Su casa es muy grande Her house is very big Amistad (ends in -tad) – Nuestra amistad es importante Our friendship is important Pared (ends in -ed) – La pared de la cocina The kitchen’s wall Misión (ends in -sión) – Esa es la nueva misión That’s the new mission Canción (ends in -ción) – ¿Te gusta la canción? Do you like the song? Honestidad (ends in -dad) – ¿Qué es la honestidad? What’s honesty? Actriz (ends in -iz) – Ella es actriz She is an actress
Invariant nouns in Spanish: The invariable nouns
Finally, some nouns have both masculine and feminine gender. They are usually called SUSTANTIVOS INVARIABLES. The article or pronoun that is placed before them help us determine their gender and meaning. Some of them change their meaning depending on the article they are used with, for example, for the noun CURA which seems to be a feminine noun, if we add the article EL then it describes a priest (EL CURA), but if we add the feminine article LA then it becomes cure (LA CURA). Here are a few examples:
Sentences using invariant nouns Student (ends in -e) - She is a student She is a student Student (ends in -e) - He is a student He is a student dentist (ends in -a) - Carlos is Carlos dentist is a dentist
Grammar quiz: The gender of nouns - El género Time limit: 0 Quiz-summary 0 of 3 questions completed Questions: 1 2 3 Information This quiz is related to what was explained in the lesson. Make sure to check the rules again in case you need. You will get an interesting tip every time you find a correct answer. Press START to begin. You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again. Quiz is loading... You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz. You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz: Results 0 of 3 questions answered correctly Your time: Time has elapsed You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0) Average score Your score Categories Not categorized 0% 1 2 3 Answered Review Question 1 of 3 1. Question Which of these sentences are using nouns with masculine gender? El perro es grande El gato es bonito La flor es roja Un mapa Una tasa Correct Incorrect Question 2 of 3 2. Question Which of these sentences are using nouns with feminine gender? LaOur house is new friendship will last. His heart is generous The brush is yours The song is called "Bella" Correct Incorrect Question 3 of 3 Question 3. Please complete esta short paragraph With the nouns: garden, car, house, color, trees, flowers. I have a (auto). My car is new. Also I have a (home). My house has two (trees) in the courtyard. The (garden) of the house has many (flowers). The flowers are (color) red. Correct Incorrect
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